


The End of the Line

by allixiler



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:41:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28724520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allixiler/pseuds/allixiler
Summary: He's let her slip from his grasp, and she's had enough.
Relationships: Rafael Barba & Original Female Character(s), Rafael Barba/Reader
Kudos: 19





	The End of the Line

They'd been fighting for hours. Over the course of the night, they'd gone from harsh whispering to ear-splitting screaming. She was furious, and he was enraged. They were both too stubborn to put an end to this fight, but the fight wasn’t what was really about to end. 

He had forgotten about her over the last several months. The woman that he loved so dearly suddenly wasn't his number one priority anymore. He still loved her, make no mistake about that. She still took his breath away when she walked in a room and he still found himself to blush when he talked to others about her. He still wanted her, but she just hadn’t been his #1 for a while now.

He used to make monumental efforts to go out of his way to make commitments with her. By hell and high water he would do everything he could to make that coffee date or dinner reservation. Now it seemed like he never hesitated to call and cancel the second he thought it might not play in favor to his schedule. He had become too comfortable that she’d forgive him. Over and over and over again had she brushed it off and looked forward to the next encounter rather than sulking on the lost one. However, it was becoming more and more difficult to let this go.

She missed him. That was the long and the short of it. She missed the way things used to be. She was tired of eating dinner alone and coming home to an empty apartment day after day. She was sick of only seeing him on the off chance that he had a free minute to spare. He didn’t care for her the same way he did before. It hurt her.

So, here they were. 9:30 PM and they were beginning to feel the strain in their throats. They hadn't reached a compromise, and she was beginning to see that they might not at all. 

“I’ve already said it, Rafael, I’m just tired of being your second choice.” She expressed to him.

He was confused and irritated as to why this conversation had come up. In his mind, he hadn’t noticed the way he had been shutting her out. He didn’t see how she yearned for him. He was blind to the fact that he just wasn’t putting in the effort he was before. 

“You’re not my second choice. You’ve never been a second choice.” He snarled.

“I am your second choice. I'm beginning to think I’m not a choice at all anymore.” You said, feeling your heart sting at your words.

That alone was enough to break you. The thought of not even being worth his love anymore. She still loved him. She was convinced there wasn't anything in the world that could change that, but she still had self-respect and dignity. She knew that she deserved something better than this. Her heart was exhausted and worn out from fighting for someone who wasn’t fighting for her.

“Are you even listening to yourself? What is going on with you?” He growled.

She couldn’t take it anymore. She just wasn’t getting through to him.

“I don’t want this anymore if you can’t see what’s happening here.” 

That got his attention. He froze so hard that it rattled his bones almost. Every muscle from his neck to his feet tensed up at what she was implying. It wasn’t over. It couldn't be over. Was there really something he wasn’t seeing?

“What?” He asked to confirm what he was hearing.

“I can’t do this if this is how it’s going to be. This isn’t how we used to be.” She explained.

She had rocked his world with two sentences. Never in a million years did he see this coming. She didn’t want to end it, but their relationship would never move forward if he didn’t start paying attention to what was important. She had to leave. Maybe, she thought, they would end back up together when the stars aligned again. But until he was able to get his priorities straight and his heart in the right place, they wouldn't last. 

He didn't say anything. He was too shocked to even move. She walked away from him, putting on her jacket and her shoes. His eyes followed her. She wasn’t leaving now, was she? She grabbed her car keys, answering his rhetorical question. 

His head was positively spinning. Here he was, trying to cope with everything that had been going on, and suddenly the love of his life was about to walk out the door. He was still angry. Furious even. He tended to say hurtful things that he didn’t mean when he was angry. He always considered it a fatal flaw. However, this time he regretted his words the second they left his mouth.

He didn’t want her to leave. He wanted this to work. He had become so attached to her in more ways that he could ever understand. He just couldn’t bring himself to fight for her. He couldn’t understand why. Maybe it was the way of him being told that this needed to happen.

Her hand had just landed on the handle of the apartment door when he fatefully spoke. His voice half full of rage and desperation.

“If you go, then I’ll know you never loved me.”  
She paused for a moment, looking back at him with sad eyes. He knew he didn’t mean that. She knew he didn’t mean that. Still, he had said it. It made the situation so much worse, and painfully easier for her to walk out the door. Of course she loved him. She adored him the way he adored her. They were soulmates, connected by love and care. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Soulmates weren’t supposed to fall apart this way. She figured that maybe that was why she wasn’t fighting the urge to walk away.

Maybe she knew that they’d end back up together one day.

“Goodbye, Rafael.”

And with that, she opened the door and left him standing alone in the middle of the living room. Any sense of love, care, purpose, or joy seemed to be sucked out the moment the door closed behind her. It wasn’t home without her. He didn’t know it yet, but he had a lot of thinking to do. He had to get himself and his life figured out to where she would always be cared for by him. She was the center star of his galaxy. He had truly lost sight of that. He had to work on himself to get her back.

And he needed to do so before the flame completely burned out.


End file.
